Why do data centers need cooling?

Data centers are advanced, specialised buildings that house important server equipment that allow  businesses to access and transfer their important data. With the demand for instant data transfer constantly rising, most modern businesses and organisations now rely on large, off-site data centers to manage their data on the cloud rather than using their own on-site data centers which can be large and expensive to run. Data centers use huge amounts of energy and electricity to stay running around the clock, and keeping the data center cool is vital to ensuring everything runs correctly and there are no issues. But why does a data center need cooling?

Specialised computing equipment designed to handle large amounts of data every second can put out large amounts of heat. If you have ever used a personal computer, you may have noticed that it can get quite hot throughout the day, especially when performing more strenuous tasks. The large amounts of computing equipment housed in a data center are much more powerful and can put out very high levels of heat especially when the data center is running 24/7. Overheating can be very damaging to server equipment, and if any crashes occur and the equipment is damaged and needs to be repaired or replaced, this can cause significant delays for businesses who need to access their data. Computing equipment that is overheating can also pose a fire hazard, so it is important to prevent this for health and safety reasons. This is why data center cooling is so central to the running of a data center. Keeping the temperature of a data center carefully regulated can prevent these problems before they happen and keep everything running without issue.

Data center equipment can be kept cool with proper aisle containment and air conditioning systems, designed to blow cold air throughout the aisles to keep the hardware cool and to extract the warm air so the air flow is kept constantly temperate. The second option to cool data center equipment is using water cooling, which chills the air in the room and keeps the hardware from overheating. Traditional data center cooling usually involved a combination of raised flooring, air conditioning and hot air/cold air aisles. Cold air would be pushed through the units while the hot air would be vented out into the hot air aisles to be recycled through, but this method has become increasingly inefficient as data center processing power and demand increases. A water cooled data center is more modern and efficient, and increasingly data centers are relying on water cooling or liquid coolants to keep the temperature of the data center better regulated at a lower cost.

USystems aims to offer data center cooling solutions that are energy efficient and save on important space. Whether you require inrow or rear door cooling, our cooling solutions reduce your environmental impact without losing efficiency. If you require full-scale data center cooling or even cooling solutions for a micro data center, we can help to keep your data running smoothly.